With defending champion Alabama leading the way, the first Saturday of the college football season attracted strong numbers on ESPN.
Saturday’s Alabama/Virginia Tech college football game drew a 3.0 U.S. rating and just under 5.2 million viewers on ESPN, up 67% in ratings and 87% in viewership from Bowling Green/Florida last year (1.8, 2.8M), and up 114% and 127%, respectively, from BYU/Mississippi in 2011 (1.4, 2.3M).
The game earned the second-largest audience of the opening week on any network, trailing only Clemson/Georgia on ABC (4.8, 8.1M).
Earlier in the day, Texas A&M’s much-hyped opener against Rice earned a 2.7 and 4.2 million viewers — up 13% in ratings and 20% in viewership from Ohio/Penn State last year (2.4, 3.5M), and up 93% and 109%, respectively, from Akron/Ohio State in 2011 (1.4, 2.0M). Texas A&M QB Johnny Manziel was suspended for the first half of the game.
ESPN’s LSU/TCU nightcap scored a 1.9 and 3.2 million viewers, actually down 10% in ratings and 11% in viewership from Clemson/Alabama last year (2.1, 3.6M), and down 17% and 15%, respectively, from Boise State/Georgia in 2011 (2.3, 3.7M).
Keep in mind the comparable games both last year and in 2011 each aired in an earlier timeslot.
In other college football action last Saturday, Buffalo/Ohio State drew a 1.1 U.S. rating and 1.9 million viewers on ESPN2, and Washington State/Auburn drew a 0.5 and 922,000 on ESPNU.
(Sat. numbers from ESPN Media Zone)
